


Growing Up

by tinymacaroni



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Fluff, FtM Danny, I haven't decided yet, There might be other relationships and stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 07:53:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5326478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinymacaroni/pseuds/tinymacaroni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam meets Danielle Fenton when she moves to Amity Park in first grade, and they grow up together as best friends, but as they get older they both find a lot they need to figure out about themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Growing Up

**Author's Note:**

> Danny is referred to as Elle and with she/her pronouns at the beginning of the story because that's how he was known and called himself before he realized he was trans.

"Ms. Peterson? We are so sorry Elle's late, we just moved here and we got a little sidetracked on our way into town, you know how it is." Maddie Fenton held the hand of a nervous first grader with bright blue eyes and thick, shoulder-length black hair tied back into two twin pigtails.  
"Late? She's missed the first month of school!" The teacher sounded exasperated, but truth be told she'd almost expected this when she'd seen the name Danielle Fenton on her roster. She'd gone to college with Jack and Maddie, and knew all too well their bad habits and strange tendencies, and in all honesty she was hoping to set this poor girl before her on the right path before her parents' ways became too ingrained in her mind.  
"We know, we know. Like we said, terribly sorry. Did she miss anything important?"  
"Well, everyone else was assigned a classroom buddy to play with and do work with...Oh! Samantha, dear, you never got a buddy, did you?" A girl at a desk in the corner shook her head, focused on the drawing before her. "Well, how would you like to be paired up with Danielle here?" The girl shrugged, pushing some of her short black hair out of her eyes.  
"Okay, I guess."  
"Well, that settles it. I'm sure you two will get along fine. Danielle, would you like to go introduce yourself?" Ms. Peterson nodded off toward the desk, and Elle obediently nodded in return, going to sit at the desk next to Samantha's. "Well, I'll see you after class when you pick her up, then. Have a wonderful day, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton." She waved good-bye to the odd pair, hearing an argument break out near the building blocks and hurrying over to settle it quickly.  
"Um. Hi. Samantha, right?" Danielle stuck her hand out for a handshake, a habit she'd picked up from her dad.  
"Just Sam." The girl ignored the proffered hand, coloring in a large lick of flame in her drawing.  
"That's cool. My name's Danielle, and my parents call me Elle. You can too, if you want. What're you drawing?" She tilted her head to get a better look at the surprisingly well-done drawing.  
"A dragon eating a knight. The princess helped the dragon beat him because she didn't want to go back and live in the castle all day. That's her over there." She pointed to a figure on the edge of the page, wearing a short purple dress and holding a sword.  
"Cool! I wanna draw too!" Elle picked up a piece of paper and a box of crayons, sketching the blue outline of a ghost and coloring it in bright green.  
"A ghost?"  
"Yeah! My parents hunt ghosts. That's why I wasn't here til today, my dad thought he saw one and we had to go chase it down. My sister was really mad she missed the first day of school."  
"That's pretty cool. So you believe in ghosts then?"  
"I dunno. I mean, my parents do, but it seems kinda...made up." She shrugged, drawing black eyes and a black mouth over her green ghost's face. "But it doesn't really matter. They're cool even if they aren't real." Just as she finished her drawing, Ms. Peterson clapped for the classroom's attention. She briefly introduced Elle -- calling her Danielle -- and then told the class that they were going to be working on subtraction that day, and began handing out a worksheet.  
"Once you finish this, come give it to me and I'll put a sticker on your chart. If you get stuck, ask your buddy, and if neither of you know then you can come ask me." She paused as she gave Danielle the worksheet. "Have you started learning subtraction yet?" The girl nodded, smiling.  
"Yep! My sister taught me adding, minusing, multiplying, and the one that starts with a d, where things get smaller."  
"Division? Very nice. Well, hopefully you'll both be able to do this just fine then." She finished handing out the worksheets and went back to her desk. Elle and Sam worked quietly together, finishing before the rest of the class and going into the corner to play with the blocks once they were done. After lunch, they built a fort together, pulling their chairs and desks over and grabbing their coats from their cubbies, grinning and hiding under the fort.  
"I like you, Sam."  
"You're not too bad yourself, kid." Sam smiled, poking Elle's shoulder. They played in the fort for a while until it was time for recess, going outside to play together on the swings. The raced each other there, Sam barely winning, and took the two swings available, getting into a contest of how high they could swing. The laughed and shouted, both of them elated to have a friend when they didn't much know or like anyone else in their grade.  
"Hey Manson! Who's your new friend?" Dash Baxter came up to them, shouting and grinning menacingly. He was already bigger, meaner, and dumber than most of the kids in class, and had been in Sam's class in kindergarten, where he teased her relentlessly about her drawings.  
"Go away, Dash! We don't want to play with you," Sam snarled as she swung up high, glaring daggers.  
"Who said anything about playing?" He waited until Elle was coming forward on the swing, then grabbed at the swing chain, causing her swing to jolt and her to fall off.  
"Elle!" Sam jumped off her swing to where Elle was sitting on the ground, sniffling and holding her hand, which was scraped and starting to bleed a little. She wrapped her arm protectively around her new friend, turning to shout at Dash with fire in her eyes. "Go away, you stupid bully, before you really make me mad!" Dash and his friends walked off laughing, and Sam helped Elle up, wishing she could chase after Dash and hit him, but knowing she'd be in big trouble if her parents found out she picked a fight at school. "You okay?" Elle nodded.  
"I-I think so. Just scraped my hand and my knee a bit. Can...can we be done with the swings today?"  
"Totally. Swings are dumb anyway." Sam smiled, trying to cheer Elle up. "Sorry about that. Dash is always like that, he's super mean but he gets away with it 'cuz all the teachers like him. It sucks." Sam and Elle walked back inside to the classroom as recess ended, sitting next to each other and working on their reading for the rest of the day until their parents picked them up.  
"How was school honey?" Maddie asked as she helped Elle buckle into her carseat.  
"It was good!" she responded enthusiastically, choosing not to tell her mom about the event by the swings. "I like Sam a lot. She's super nice and smart and stuff." And she's pretty, she thought, but didn't say out loud. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed better not to say it.  
"Well that's wonderful honey! I can't wait to get you home and we can tell your father all about it. Do you have any homework?"  
"Nope, Ms. Peterson says she doesn't think we need homework yet. I do wanna finish a book I was reading today though. I'll have Jazz help me."  
"Sounds like a plan!" They pulled up in front of the house and Maddie undid Elle's seat buckle, helping her out of the car and ushering her into the house. Elle grinned as she sat down to read at the kitchen table, clutching her book excitedly. She was having so much fun at school, she couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. She wolfed down her dinner that night, and didn't even fight when Maddie put her to bed, wanting to go to sleep so tomorrow would come sooner. The next day, she woke up bright and early, putting on a purple dress because she knew it was Sam's favorite color and racing downstairs for breakfast.  
"Someone's in a rush," Maddie hummed as she flipped pancakes.  
"That excited for school, eh, Elle?" Jack elbowed her a little, taking the pancakes to the table and coating his in syrup while Elle spread jam on her own.  
"Yep!" She grinned, her mouth sticky with red raspberry. "I can't wait to play with Sam and draw stuff and build stuff!"  
"Sam? Is that a boy in your class?"  
"No dear, that's her friend who sits next to her. Right sweetie?" Maddie smiled and wiped Elle's mouth for her as the little girl nodded. After breakfast they got in the car, dropping Jazz and Elle off, Jazz walking Elle to her class.  
"Do you really like it that much?" Jazz asked before letting Elle go.  
"Yeah!" Elle said with a smile.  
"Alright. Be careful though, little sis. Don't get yourself hurt." Jazz had always been overprotective of Elle, even when she was two and Elle had just been born. She hugged her little sister and made sure she had her lunch before walking down the hall to her classroom.  
"Hey Sam!" Elle put her things in her cubby and sat down next to her new friend.  
"Hey." Sam didn't look up from her drawing, a picture of two girls in light purple dresses underneath an arch.  
"What are you drawing?"  
"A wedding."  
"But that's too girls."  
"Girls can marry other girls now. My parents told me, it happened a couple months ago. They were really mad about it. I don't know why, though. It'd be fun to marry a girl, girls are way prettier than boys."  
"Really? That'd be so cool! I wanna marry a girl."  
"You and me could get married," Sam said absentmindedly, working on drawing the bouquets in the brides' hands, not seeing Elle's cheeks turn red.  
"We should!" The bell rang as she spoke. "Maybe at recess."  
"Good morning class," Ms. Peterson said with a smile as she began handing out the morning's math worksheet. It was multiplication today. "You'll have until lunch to do it, since today we have gym after lunch." Every class had gym twice a week, either in the morning or the afternoon, and if it was in the afternoon they did outside activities instead of recess. Sam and Elle finished early again, getting stuck a few times, and drew for a while until everyone else was done, with still about twenty minutes until lunch.  
"Hey, we should get married now, since we don't have recess today," Sam pointed out.  
"Okay! Should we put on fancy dresses?"  
"Nah, I like the dress you wore today. It's pretty. And this is my favorite skirt." Once again, Sam missed the faint blush on Elle's cheeks. She didn't know why she was embarrassed that Sam thought she was pretty, but she was.  
"We need a witness, I think. Otherwise how will everyone know we got married? And rings. I'll go find those. Let's do it by the painting wall." Elle went to the dress-up box, where they had costumes for games and plays, and found two costume rings with big green stones in them. She took them to the wall at the back of the room where the kids had paintings hung up, and where Sam was standing with Valerie, who looked annoyed by the whole thing.  
"Why do you wanna get married anyway? It's dumb. My parents got married and they don't even like each other anymore."  
"Well Elle and I like each other now, and if something bad happens we can deal with it. But I wanna marry a girl. It's fun! You just have to watch and make sure it happens. Elle, did you get the rings?"  
"Yep!" She held one out to Sam, smiling. "Do you wanna go first?"  
"Sure. I saw my aunt's wedding this summer, I think I still remember all the words. Danielle Fenton, I take you as my wife, if we're sick or healthy, if we're rich or poor, until we die. Um...I do."  
"Sam, um...what's your last name again?"  
"Manson."  
"Sam Manson, I take you to be my wife, sick or healthy, rain or shine--"  
"It's rich or poor, silly. You're not saying it right."  
"Oops, sorry. If you're rich or poor, 'til we die. I do." They slid the rings on each others' fingers, and Valerie rolled her eyes.  
"What, are you gonna kiss now?"  
"I think we're supposed to," Sam said with a blush.  
"Do you want to?"  
"Sure." Sam leaned in, touching her mouth against Elle's lightly.  
"That's all? I don't see the big deal."  
"I know, right? People always talk about kissing but it just feels like touching you. Grown-ups are weird." Elle nodded in agreement as Ms. Peterson called for everyone to clean up. "I guess we should put our rings away now."  
"Aren't you not supposed to take off a wedding ring?"  
"I know, but I don't want to get in trouble for it. We'll put them back on tomorrow." Sam took the rings and put them away while Elle got their lunches from their cubbies. "I think we're eating lunch with Mr. Felsar's class, since we have gym with them."  
"Oh, okay." The two girls walked to the lunchroom together, sitting together at a table with a little boy in a bright red hat.  
"Hi Tucker."  
"Hi Sam. Who's the new girl?"  
"My name's Elle. Who are you?"  
"Tucker. Tucker Foley. My dad says you should always say your last name when you introduce yourself because it makes you sound important."  
"Not when you explain it, dummy!" Sam said with a laugh, opening her lunchbox. "Did your class do anything fun today?"  
"No, we just read a lot. I wanted to do math today. What about you?"  
"We did multiplication stuff, and then Elle and I got married."  
"Can girls marry other girls?"  
"Yeah, it was on the news a while ago. My parents got really angry about it." Elle stayed quiet, watching Sam and Tucker talk as she unpacked her lunch, taking a bite of her ham sandwich. It tasted a little funny, but she looked and it still looked like ham, so she shrugged a bit.  
"Where are you from?" Tucker asked, turning towards her.  
"I'm from California I think, but we didn't live there very long. We travel a lot. My parents hunt ghosts."  
"Wow, really? That's so cool! I wish my parents hunted ghosts."  
"It's not actually very interesting." Elle finished her sandwich, her stomach complaining slightly.  
"Hey, I'm gonna go buy a milk, can you guys watch my spot for me?" Sam interjected. The other two nodded. "Thanks."  
"So you travel a lot, huh? What kind of stuff do you see?"  
"We went to the Grand Canyon last year. That was pretty cool. It was really hot out though."  
"I bet." They talked for a bit while Sam stood in line, until Elle very suddenly felt very sick. She threw up on the table, getting it on the table, the floor, and Sam's lunchbox. She looked around, very embarrassed and kind of confused. She hadn't felt sick before, and she didn't feel sick now.  
"Oh my god are you okay?" Tucker asked, waving over one of the teachers.  
"Yeah. I feel fine, I don't know why that happened." A teacher walked over, looking like she would also be sick.  
"Which of you is sick?"  
"I threw up, but I don't feel sick. I think my sandwich was bad."  
"Okay, well, go sit somewhere else while I get the janitor to clean this up," the teacher sighed, ushering them away.  
"Oh my god, what happened?" Sam gasped as she walked back over with her milk. "Who did this?"  
"Uh, uh, he did!" Elle said, pointing at Tucker.  
"What? No I didn't, it was her!"  
"Tucker, Elle wouldn't lie to me. We're married. I can't believe you blamed that on her." Sam crossed her arms angrily, turning to look away from him as Tucker glared at Elle, who looked back apologetically. "Come on, let's go sit somewhere else."  
"Can we go get water first? I'm thirsty." Same and Elle walked off to the water fountain, holding hands. Elle felt bad for lying, but she was more scared of Sam being mad at her.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short little intro chapter to show how Danny and Sam met, other chapters will get longer and it will probably have chapters taking place during and/or after the canon series too, which will be more involved with fights and all that. I might even come up with a real plot eventually, but for now it's just cute fluff about Danny and Sam growing up :P


End file.
